Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Game Notes vs. Spokane

Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Chiefs are meeting for the third time this season. The Rockets are 2-0-0-0 against the Chiefs this season, having out-scored the opposition 5-1. The Rockets have out-shot the Chiefs in both games by a combined margin of 60-46. The Rockets are 1 for 8 (12.5%) on the power play in the seasonal series while the Chiefs are 0 for 6 (0%). These two teams conclude the four game series on the final day of the regular season – March 15th in Spokane. The Rockets are coming off a 6 game road trip where the club went 5-1-0-0. The only loss over that stretch was to Red Deer February 27th in a 3-2 setback.The Rockets enter tonight’s game with one loss in their last six games (5-1-0-0). With seven games left in the regular season, the Rockets play four of them on home ice. Those games are against Spokane, Vancouver, Portland and Kamloops. The Rockets have road games in Chilliwack, Kamloops and Spokane. In the big picture the Rockets have just two regulation losses in their last 18 games (13-2-1-2). Following tonight’s game the Rockets are in Chilliwack Friday before returning home to face the Vancouver Giants Saturday night:

Seasonal Series Breakdown vs. Spokane:

Period:123Total

Rockets:2125

Chiefs:0101

Different Data: Rockets goaltender Mark Guggenberger made his first WHL start against the Chiefs as a member of the Portland Winter Hawks. Guggenberger made 38 saves in a 5-2 loss October 12/2007. Guggenberger is 1-1-0-0 lifetime against the Chiefs, with the lone win coming February 8th in a 2-1 victory in Spokane. Guggenberger made 24 saves in the victory…The Rockets ended the month of February with a record of 11-2-0-1 in 14 games. Those 14 games were played in just 25 days…The 11 win effort in February comes off a January where they won just 7 of 14 games….The Kelowna Rockets celebrated a milestone last Friday in Red Deer with their 1 thousandth regular season game. The Rockets were born as an expansion franchise as the Tacoma Rockets in 1991, but after four short seasons moved to Kelowna for the start of the 1995-96 campaign. Since re-locating to Kelowna, the Rockets have made the playoffs in 13 of the 14 seasons (that includes this season) in the Okanagan. The Rockets have won 510 times since 1995.

Last Game: Collin Bowman snapped a 25 game goal scoring drought with the game winner on the power play in the third period leading the Rockets to a 2-1 win over Calgary Saturday night. Cody Almond also scored, in the team’s 40th win of the season. The Rockets were 1 for 5 on the power play with Mark Guggenberger making 34 saves in the victory.

Better Than Before: Lucas Bloodoff is one point shy of the career high 37 he collected last season.Jamie Benn has 6 more points than the 65 set in his rookie season. Cody Almond has set a new career high in points (60) this season. Almond had 56 points all of last year. Tyler Myers has 19 more points than last season. His 8 goals is also a career high after scoring 6 times last season. Tyson Barrie has 6 more points than the 43 he had in his rookie season. Barrie has new career highs in goals (11) and assists (38).

Very Interesting! Jamie Benn has gone five games without a goal. Benn went five games without a goal last season in the month of October… The Rockets won their 40th game of the season Saturday, marking the 5th time since the team re-located to Kelowna that they’ve had a +40 win season….Cody Almond andJamie Benn have three-three goal games this season. Ian Duval leads all Rockets in games played. Duval is playing in career game #325 tonight…Mark Guggenberger has won seven of his last ten starts, and has earned points in 13 of his last 15 appearances…The Rockets are 21-2-0-1 when Colin Long scores…The Rockets 24 home ice wins this season is three better than the teams 21 home ice victories one season ago…Goaltender Mark Guggenberger has started 15 of the last 20 games…The Rockets have out-shot the opposition in 17 of the 23 games since the trade deadline. Only Calgary, Chilliwack, TriCity and Vancouver (three times) have out-shot the Rockets since the trade deadline…The Rockets are 14-5-1-3 in twenty-three games since the trade deadline…Mitchell Callahan has 17 fighting majors this season as a 17 year-old.Teammate Curt Gogol – also 17 – has 10. Veteran Ryley Grantham has 17 fighting majors.

Which Kelowna Rockets will make Team Canada?

Who will win the BC Division this season?

World Gym Kelowna/West Kelowna

Regan Bartel

Will Cal Foote and Kole Lind be taken in the first round of the NHL draft?

About Me

Bartel is a radio broadcaster for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. Bartel is enjoying his 26th year in the radio broadcast industry, spending 13 years at CKSW in Swift Current before moving to AM 1150 in Kelowna in the summer of 2000. Having called the play-by-play for the Swift Current Broncos and Kelowna Rockets, Bartel has called games at five Memorial Cups (2003,04,05,09, 2015), the CHL Top Prospects Game (2012) and the Canada-Russia Subway Super Series (2009). To listen to audio, just type audio in the window at the top left of the screen.